WATCH: Shark Habitat Could Be Forming Off New Jersey

The recent discovery of a juvenile great white shark could help explain why there have been an increase in shark sightings off the Jersey Shore recently.

It could be the beginnings of a shark habitat that oceanographers say they’ve seen develop elsewhere in the United States - and eventually led to an increase in sightings.

Michael L. Domeier, president of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, told Patch the New York Bight - an area of the Atlantic Ocean from Cape May to Montauk Point on Long Island - could be experiencing what happened on the West Coast.

There, white shark pups often remain in a fairly localized area for the summer - and make appearances on local shores - before migrating to warmer water in the winter, he said.

Domeier, who said he saw pictures and video of the white shark recently caught by one group in Sandy Hook, also noted that the shark population and, as a result, sightings have appeared to increase since the 1990s when various conservation measures took effect.

Melissa Michaelson of Brick, a volunteer at the Marine Conservation Science Institute, said her documentation of white shark catch and releases off the Jersey Shore since 2003 show such activity has increased in the last two years, according to KHOU in Houston.

“In the beginning I was lucky to see one a year,” she said in the report. “it was that rare. Last year I had eight.”

A small party of friends and family were fishing for fluke earlier this month 9 miles northeast of the Sandy Hook tip when they hooked a 4 1/2-foot juvenile great white shark, according to the report.

Sharks have been appearing at the Jersey Shore this summer. But, despite media reports warning people about shark attacks, they don’t appear to be a threat.

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And they certainly don’t appear to pose a threat that’s anything close to what happened in North Carolina recently.

A viewer sent Channel 6 Action News a video of swimmers at the Jersey Shore who caught a small shark in shallow water near the shoreline earlier this summer.

Brad Stokhamer and Pat Muston caught the baby shark in Sea Isle City. according to report. Muston says he’s caught three sharks over the past week.

Boaters also allegedly captured video of sharks “blitzing all around” about four miles off Sea Isle City. They estimated the sharks to be 30 to 100 pounds in size, and they were seen crashing the surface and chasing bunker around.

The Marine Mammal Standing Center in Brigantine has acknowledged that the sightings are more common than usual, pointing to a photo that’s been going around social media of a newborn bottlenose dolphin, and noting that dead floating animals are very likely to have shark bites.

But Robert Schoelkopf, director of the center, said people should not be so alarmed by videos of sharks. Sharks attacks, he said, are less common than “bathtub falls.”

“But they’re [sharks] there all the time. People are just getting more fascinated by it,” he said. “Now people are seeing it and they’re freaking out about it.”

Photo: Shark approaches boat off Jersey Shore in 2014.